Two Wolves from Texas - a Termite Terrace Story
by WileE2005
Summary: When Warner Bros.'s new buddy comedy musical "Two Guys From Texas" calls for leading men Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson to be made into animated cartoon characters for a dream sequence that Bugs Bunny guest-stars in, and then to dress up like wolves, some mayhem occurs behind the scenes!


**TWO WOLVES FROM TEXAS**

by WileE2005

**DISCLAIMER:** "Two Guys from Texas" and the Looney Tunes are trademarks and properties of Warner Bros. Entertainment. This is simply a work of fan fiction…

It was a nice late spring day in 1948 at the Warner Bros. studios in Los Angeles. Over at the Warner Bros. Animation department, word was abuzz on how actors Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson had been "cartoon-ized" for an animated dream sequence Friz Freleng was directing for Warner's latest musical buddy feature, "Two Guys from Texas." Bugs Bunny was to even make a guest appearance in said dream sequence, as he was currently Warner's biggest cartoon star.

On a sound stage set up to look like a peaceful meadow, they had just finished filming a scene. Friz Freleng, a fairly short balding man with a big nose and mustache, was shaking Bugs Bunny's gloved hand. "Great job, Bugs!" he said with a slight Southern drawl to his growly voice. "A fine performance as always. We won't need you anymore for this shoot, though."

"Eh, thanks, Doc," Bugs said as he continued munching the carrot he had started munching on during the scene. He then stepped out of his rabbit hole and walked past Daffy Duck, looking somewhat jealous.

"What?!" Daffy Duck said to Friz. "Bugs gets an appearance in a feature film, and I'm still doing shorts? What about ME?!"

"Shut up, duck!" Friz bellowed, not amused. "Bugs is currently our biggest star, and he has more draw power than you do. Besides, Jones is wondering where you've gone off to. You're needed on his set for that Henry Hawk picture he's doing!"

Daffy shuddered, knowing how much Henry Hawk annoyed him, but he did what he was told and left the stage, just as a stagehand walked onto the set to peel up the ACME Portable Hole that was being used as Bugs's rabbit hole.

Meanwhile, Bugs Bunny was chatting with actor Jack Carson, who was playing a character named Danny Foster in the movie, rival to Dennis Morgan's Steve Carroll character. Jack was checking himself out in the mirror, trying on the cartoon wolf costume the animation, wardrobe and makeup departments had given him that morning that he was to wear in the next scene of the dream sequence, as part of Bugs's advice on how to make the best of Dennis. It consisted of a pink dress shirt with green tie, purple vest, dark blue dress jacket and matching pants, dark yellow cartoon paws, a brown bushy tail and wolf footpaws. Jack was also holding the full-head rubber wolf mask with a long snout and big black nose that was part of his getup.

Bugs chuckled. "You look great, Jack! With the head on, nobody would suspect you're not really a wolf!"

"I gotta agree, Bugs," Jack said as he smiled at his reflection. "Too bad the script calls for your plan to not work. It's like the opposite of your cheesy disguises."

"Exactly!" Bugs said, laughing. "And as I always say, fight fire with fire," he added, gesturing to Dennis Morgan talking with Friz. He too was wearing a cartoon wolf suit but made to fit his slenderer build compared to Jack's bulkier frame, and was a full-body costume with gray and white fur, a gray fuzzy tail and matching footpaws. Unlike Jack, Dennis's wolf disguise lacked pants (fortunately he had shorts on underneath), but the tuxedo jacket was orange with a yellow boutonniere and red bowtie, worn over a green dress shirt, and he also had a yellow straw boater hat to go with his getup, currently being worn over Dennis's real head, as he too was also holding the rubber wolf mask in his left hand. Overall, Dennis's wolf alter-ego had the neater appearance compared to Jack's, as that is how the script stated for them to look.

That gave Bugs another idea, and he softly told Jack, "Hey, Doc, this isn't part of the movie, but I have a fun idea for both you and Morgan to do that won't let you make fools of yourselves..." He inaudibly whispered the rest to Jack, who gave a big grin.

Friz turned to David Butler, the director of the rest of the film, and said, "We may as well break for lunch."

David turned to a stagehand and said, "OK, let's take a lunch break, including the 'toons."

"Lunch, everybody!" the stagehand called out. Bugs resumed munching on his carrot and started walking with Friz toward the exit. The sheep that were also part of the dream sequence were all tended to by an actual shepherd for their own lunch. Jack approached Dennis with a smile on his face…

"Hey Dennis," Jack said. "As long as we're cartoons and we have these wolf suits on, whaddaya say we... roam the lot with our full getup on and see what everyone else at the studio thinks?" He let out a chuckle.

"Great idea," Dennis grinned as he lifted off his boater hat. "This could be good for the publicity!"

And with that, they both slipped their latex wolf masks over their heads, stuffed their rubbery necks underneath their tuxedo shirts, straightened their bowties, Dennis adjusted the hat on his wolf head, and they left the sound stage.

…

The studio lot was largely bustling with several human actors and crew members, along with some cartoon characters that were either in the progress of filming new Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies shorts, have already starred in such shorts, or have yet to appear in any shorts. Jack and Dennis blended in perfectly with the rest of the cartoons, especially the anthropomorphic animal characters.

Film editor Treg Brown walked past the disguised Dennis and Jack while holding some film reels and complimented, "Hey, nice costumes," as he knew what was supposed to happen in the dream sequence.

Then a fox (as seen in "What Makes Daffy Duck") greeted the two "wolves" with a wave. "Heya, welcome to Termite Terrace!" he said, having not understood Treg's compliment.

Dennis and Jack waved back at the fox while grinning and showing the fangs, being able to articulate their wolf masks very well as if they were their real faces.

A big brutish bald 'toon man, "The Crusher," waved at the "wolves" as well. "They musts be new 'toons here," he said to himself.

Hippety Hopper the baby kangaroo bounced by and waved at the two new 'toons on the lot.

Dennis chuckled and softly told Jack, "This is actually kind of fun being incognito with the 'toon crowd!"

But Jack gave a stunned look at what he saw up ahead. "Oh my, here comes trouble!"

Sure enough, a cartoon wolf in ratty old patched overalls, a real one (as seen in "The Sheepish Wolf"), approached the two phony wolves. "Good now!" he greeted them in a fairy gruff but dignified-sounding voice. "Welcome, fellow wolves! I do not believe I've seen you both in the Union before. Tell me, what are your names?"

Dennis and Jack both glanced at each other, and then glanced at the wolf greeting them. "Uh," Dennis began, now speaking in a slightly higher New Yorkese-sounding voice, "I'm Don Wolf, and this here's my pal, er..."

"Jeck," Jack said in an intentionally gruff-sounding voice, "Nice to meet you." He shook the real wolf's gloved paw.

The wolf responded, "Charmed. Now to introduce you to the rest of the pack..." He turned around and whistled, to which more wolves arrived! One of them looked similar to the wolf that just greeted Jack and Dennis, but wearing a dapper green suit, brown shoes and a matching derby hat (as seen in "The Trial of Mr. Wolf.") There was also a Big Bad Wolf-type resembling the first wolf but he had dark brown fur instead of black, white gloves, and a brown derby hat (as seen in "Little Red Riding Rabbit.") There was a more feral-looking wolf with gray and black shaggy fur, yellow eyes and no clothes (as seen in "I Got Plenty of Mutton.") And there was another wolf that was fully clothed in what looked like a greenish-blue mobster outfit and pink fedora, though he had green fur and yellow eyes (as seen in "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery.") Another one of the wolves had dark brown fur, a light tan muzzle area and a thin black mustache, along with a tuxedo top and boater hat similar to Dennis's, but with yellow pants (as seen in "Bacall to Arms.") There was even a Wolf in Grandma's Clothing, i.e. a faded pink nightgown and cap, along with blackish-brown fur, white muzzle with big black nose and sharp fangs, and green eyes (as seen in "Book Revue.") And the largest of them all had a long black cloak and pointed hat on, and his head had mostly blue fur except for his tan muzzle, including a long beard on his chin (as seen on "Bye, Bye Bluebeard."

"Oh boy," Jack said uncertainly.

"My friends," the pompous wolf told the other actual 'toon wolves, "meet the newest members of our clan, Don and Jeck Wolf."

"Howdy," Dennis said in his disguised voice as he waved.

"So, you guys already starring in a cartoon?" Mr. Wolf asked them, in a New Yorkese voice that was almost a dead-ringer for Bugs Bunny's voice.

"Uhhh, yes," Jack said in his gruff voice. "We're in a new Bugs Bunny picture that Friz is directing."

"Oh, is it an adaptation of 'Little Red Riding Hood?'" Mr. Wolf asked.

"If Friz were doing that, he would've hired me!" the Big Bad Wolf-type growled in his gruffer voice.

"No, me!" Mr. Wolf argued.

"For all we know," the Wolf in Grandma's Clothing said, "it could very well be an adaptation of the Three Little Pigs!"

"But Friz already did one over five years ago," the Big Bad Wolf-type reminded him. " 'Pigs in a Polka,' remember?

"Or maybe it involves sheep?" the gray wolf suggested.

"Ehhhhh, could be!" Don slyly said, as if he were imitating Bugs Bunny's voice.

"The cartoon I appear in doesn't go into production for a few months," Bluebeard said in his deep Russian voice.

"Well," the pompous Sheepish Wolf told the two "new wolves," "we are heading to the studio cafeteria for a bite to eat."

"Why, that's just where we's heading!" Jack said gruffly.

"Splendid!" the pompous Wolf said, rubbing his gloved paws in delight. "Me and the others can tell you all there is to know about being a wolf at the Warner lot."

"Uh, sure!" Dennis said.

"Adieu!" the Sheepish Wolf said as he waved goodbye and walked off with the other wolves towards the direction of the studio cafeteria. Dennis and Jack waited a bit until they were a good distance away.

"Well, now what do we do?" Jack said in his normal voice.

"We go to lunch, what else?" Dennis said, all traces of "Don Wolf" gone from his voice. "We can still impress and fool the others in the process."

Jack chuckled again. "In a way, it almost feels like we're acting in a movie right now... a cartoon movie!"

Along the way, they came across Sylvester the Cat, also on his way to the cafeteria. "Let me guess," he lisped to the two "wolves," "you two working for Friz?"

"Eeyup!" Jack said, resuming his gruff wolfish voice.

"Well, don't get on his bad side," Sylvester warned. "He can really lose his temper, and sometimes he gets to be like that Yosemite Sam fellow!"

Sylvester didn't realize Yosemite Sam was standing nearby! "I HEARD THAT!" he bellowed and stormed off to the cafeteria.

…

So they made it to the studio cafeteria. Besides people involved with "Two Guys from Texas," nobody suspected the two well-dressed 'toon wolves were actually actors Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson in disguise, whether they were cartoon characters themselves or not.

To keep up with their masquerade, Jack and Dennis got pulled pork sandwiches for their lunch. As they tried to find a table to sit at together, they heard a voice from earlier. "Fellow thespians, over here!" It was the pompous Sheepish Wolf, seated with Mr. Wolf and the Big Bad Wolf-type.

"We might as well," Dennis softly said to Jack, and so they seated themselves at said table. They saw the other three wolves were also eating pulled pork sandwiches.

"Alas, they don't serve lamb," the Sheepish Wolf said, "so we are making do with these pulled pork sandwiches."

Porky Pig walked by holding a salad and gave a look of disgust. "Y-y-you know," he stammered, "I-I-I-I find that highly offensive."

Jack and Dennis started laughing, and then the other wolves joined in.

"Ahhh, tell it to the cooks!" Mr. Wolf dismissed it.

"B-b-b-but what if he d-d-decides to cook me?" Porky nervously asked.

"No problem," Jack said in the gruff voice he came up with for "Jeck Wolf," "they'd rather serve real pork made from real pigs instead of 'toon pigs."

"I-I-I see your p-p-p-point," Porky noted, and he walked off.

The pompous wolf shook his head and closed his eyes. "Poor Porky... just because he was once Warner's biggest cartoon star doesn't mean people will take him seriously."

Dennis said in his cartoony "Don Wolf" voice, "That's because he's always being cast as the straight man."

"He's right," the Big Bad Wolf added. "Because of that, most of the cartoon directors here don't really like to work with him, except maybe that Chuck Jones guy. The others usually prefer Bugs or Daffy, as they're funnier."

"Yeah," Jack said in his gruff wolfish voice. "Sometimes Don here would play the straight man to my routines. Isn't that right, Don?" He leaned over and grabbed Dennis's big fake wolf nose and started tugging it outward, the rubber wolf's face comically distorted as it was stretched outward.

"YOWCH!" Dennis yelped, still staying in character. "Let go, it hurts!" So Jack let go and the wolf mask snapped back into place. Dennis rubbed his latex wolf muzzle."

"Wait a minute!" Mr. Wolf realized something. "Even though I'm a 'toon, my nose doesn't stretch out THAT far..."

"Neither does mine," the Big Bad Wolf-type added. "Something's screwy."

That was when Friz Freleng approached the table. "Hello there, my wolves..." as he was walking by, but then he stopped and did a double take. "Dennis?! Jack?! What are you two doing here in your costumes?!" he bellowed in surprise.

"Dennis?" the pompous Wolf asked.

"Jack?" Mr. Wolf added.

"Costumes?" the Big Bad Wolf asked.

Dennis and Jack turned to face each other, and then they turned to the other wolves and they tugged off their rubber wolf masks to reveal their sweaty true, albeit animated caricature faces. "Surprise!" they said in unison.

The three actual wolves all gave a look of shock and aghastness. Then Mr. Wolf spoke up, now quite annoyed, "What's the big idea?! Now you's having humans play our parts on film? 'Toon humans, no less?!"

"The deception!" the pompous wolf dramatically moaned. "The deceit! The disguising!"

"It's not what you think it is," Dennis told the three wolves in his normal voice.

"Then DO tell me what it is!" the Big Bad Wolf-type roared.

Friz explained, "I'm directing a cartoon dream sequence for Warner's 'Two Guys from Texas' picture, and in the dream, Jack and Dennis's characters dress up as wolves, as it involves sheep in a meadow. But what I don't understand is why they'd want to wear their wolf suits outside of the set..."

That was when they heard a familiar munching sound. Friz, Jack, Dennis and the wolves turned to see Bugs Bunny kneeling alongside a table chewing on a carrot. He chuckled and said "Ain't I a stinker?"

"BUGS!" Friz angrily demanded. "Did you set all of this up?!"

"Ehhhhh," Bugs slyly said, "it's a possibility!"

Friz hopped angrily a bit and growled. "How many times do I have to tell you, Bugs?!" he ordered the crazy rabbit. "Save the smart-alecky stuff for the cameras!"

"Sure, Doc," Bugs said as he resumed munching on his carrot.

Friz turned to Dennis, Jack and the others and said, "He's a good rabbit actor, but sometimes he can get on my nerves with the way he acts."

"I hear ya," the Big Bad Wolf growled.

"Besides," Jack added, "this stunt Dennis and I pulled could also help with the publicity for the picture!"

Friz widened his eyes as he realized something. "Yeah, you may be onto something!" he said, now more positive. "I'll go tell Butler about this." He ran out of the cafeteria with a big grin on his face. Now some other 'toons gathered around the animated Dennis and Jack in their headless 'toon wolf costumes.

"But why didn't you tell us the truth right away?" the Sheepish Wolf asked.

"It was part of our gag," Dennis explained. "We decided to try and blend in with the rest of the 'toon crowd, passing ourselves off as a couple of wolves and seeing what it's like to be anthropomorphic cartoon animals."

Jack added, "It was actually kind of fun to get into the masquerade, coming up with our 'Jeck' and 'Don' identities, even though these costumes can get kind of hot quickly."

Mr. Wolf folded his arms. "I'm still not sure how that's supposed to play out."

"Well," Dennis told him, "once we wrap up filming the dream sequence later today, stop by the lab after it's developed to see our dailies and find out for yourselves."

"Splendid idea!" the pompous wolf said. "Besides, I doubt they're allowing any real wolves on the set, since I heard sheep are involved."

By now, Dennis and Jack had finished their lunches, and were getting up.

"We're gonna head back to the set in our costumes," Jack told the real wolves. "We'll be showing off our disguises and staying in character before we return in time for the next shoot."

"Very well," the pompous wolf said, having finished his sandwich himself and collecting the trays.

"OK, let's put these on," Dennis said, holding up his wolf mask, "and we'll all howl on it. Ready?"

Jack and Dennis slipped their latex masks back on, stuffed the necks under their dress shirts, and they both howled along with the three actual 'toon wolves.

From another table, the Barnyard Dawg called out "AHH, SHUT UP!" and threw a bone at the group of wolves. It clattered onto their table, and now Jack, Dennis and the real wolves had a good laugh.

…

A while later, after leaving the cafeteria and strolling leisurely back to the sound stage, the wolf-suited Dennis and Jack noticed three pigs off in the distance. They were short and squat, each wearing only a turtleneck sweater. They were chasing a tall, lanky wolf with grayish-brown fur, a white muzzle and cheeks, and blue baggy overalls. (All of these are from "The Windblown Hare.")

"Get back here!" the pig in a green sweater ordered.

"You said you would convince that McKimson guy to start coming up with our first cartoon short together!" the pig in a red sweater angrily said.

"Yeah!" the pig in yellow agreed. "All for one and one for all!"

That was when they came up to Jack and Dennis in their wolf disguises, glaring and snarling at the pigs.

"Three wolves?!" the pig in red exclaimed.

"Cheese it," the pig in yellow cried out, "we're practically outnumbered now!"

"Let's am-scray!" the pig in green said, and he and his two brothers ran off in a cloud of dust.

"Thanks, fellas," the wolf said as he shook Jack and Dennis's hands. "You two must be new in the union."

"Ehhhh, could be!" Dennis said, back in his "Don Wolf" voice.

A little way up, Friz Freleng confronted the two "wolves" again, this time with a photographer. "I talked to the producers and the studio press," Friz announced, "and they enjoy the idea of this harmless publicity stunt."

"So, let's get some publicity shots," the photographer said, "First, pose together over on that spot with the sound stages behind you." He pointed over to the spot. Dennis and Jack were able to quickly zip over there with their new cartoon abilities and struck a few poses as the photographer snapped a few pictures.

…

After that, they headed back to the Warner Bros. Animation department, where Friz and the photographer pose across the street with the studio and water tower in the background.

"We'll make sure we get a photo of you two with Bugs before we resume the shoot, and then inform everyone about the true identity of you two wolves after today," Friz told Dennis and Jack. "Oh, and incidentally, the cartoonization process for the Squaw was a success."

"Squaw?" Jack looked uncertain.

Sure enough, the fat old Native American female that was cast to keep going after Jack's character as a running gag throughout the film came up to the two "wolves", now fully an animated character like Dennis and Jack were. She put her arms around the costumed Jack and giggled softly, and started stroking his latex wolf muzzle. Then Dennis, Friz and the photographer all began to laugh, and a few seconds later Jack joined in with their laughing. It had been a whole knew but fun experience for two of Warner Bros.'s comic actors being transformed into cartoon characters and mingling with other 'toons in the guise of a couple of sharply dressed wolves.

END


End file.
